Traitor 2
by Spirit De Mortis
Summary: Sequel to Traitor written by me which you can find in my files again. Cliffjumper/Mirage hints of past Hound/Mirage NC17 for later.


**It took me a year and a half to want to do this again... I tried that long ago to start this but my computer crashed and lost it. I was pissed. So anyway, this will likely be multiple chapters long. Because not only is this Cliffjumper coming to grips with what he did to Mirage... but ooop...Hound finds out. ANGST ON THE WAY! YAAAAY! I have no idea where this will go... but we will have fun with it!**

**NC17 for later, Cliffjumper/Mirage (hints in past of Hound/Mirage)**

Somehow the space in which the Fail-safe monitor device the Decepticon's built to test the electro-cells they stole from the science academy seemed to constrict to an unbearably tight spot where the jagged rocks of the mountain side seemed to be jutting up from the ground Ratchet ran over like he was running through the jaws of a large bestial mouth and the rocks were its teeth as it closed around him. He made it to the rim of the chasm and looked down over a steep drop. His red servo falling on the lip of the chasm as if he were about to hop out of the gaping maw of the mineral monster but stopped. A familiar body had either fallen or was pushed off the other side of the mountain, beyond the CMO's line of sight; where the body crashed to the ground below with a sickening strut rattling crash.

Laser fire was heard overhead and Ratchet happened to look up for a fraction of a second. He knew taking his optics off Mirage was potentially dangerous considering everything that had happened in the last few clicks, but he knew… he just knew in his spark that there was more going on here than met the eye… all he had to do was get close enough to Mirage to look at him to prove his hunch. Overhead, the Seeker trine were lending aerial tactics to the battle as blaster fire shot upward from whatever Autobot on the ground who pulled the trigger. The Insecticon's where in mid fight as Mirage toppled into view, Ratchet could see Bombshell diving down toward Mirage… surely if Mirage was really a converted Decepticon as Cliffjumper has claimed, then Bombshell would not be too likely to attack him.

The moment's hesitation cost blaster-fire to glance off the rocks near Ratchet's servo, it made him back away, the explosion sent him reeling. Ratchet hadn't heard any additional blaster fire indicating the cataleptic Mirage's demise. Ratchet groaned with a squeal of stressed gears and struts as he pushed up to his pedes as fast as he could. He wasn't as young as some… however not too old to hold his own, still, being jarred like this did nothing for his body; which was not really made for battle purposes. He stumbled forward to the lip of the cliff and looked down.

"Stand up -Stand up! I command it!" The Insecticon said, bringing his pede up to nudge an unmoving Mirage. "Very well, I'll do it myself!" Bombshell said as he aimed his blaster down at the supine mech at his pedes. Ratchet took the chance… he couldn't just let Mirage be killed, even if Mirage was in fact a traitor. They will deal with him in another manner more suited to the Autobot's. Although… if Ratchet was really honest with himself, allowing Bombshell to end Mirage would be a merciful ending compared to what some of the Autobot's would in effect do to Mirage should he turn out to really be a double agent. Ratchet lifted the blaster in his servo to take aim at Bombshell. Maybe… maybe he could do it himself. Mirage had not always been a favorite to many of the Autobot's but Ratchet had no problem with the Noble. Mirage, until now, had always presented himself as an admirable warrior. Less exuberant than someone like Ironhide or Cliffjumper… it was no secret that Mirage detested the war, but he never refused to do what it took to save the planet he loved so much. If Ratchet was as merciful as he wished to be, he would kill Mirage himself, not let Bombshell do it, because Bombshell would kill him slowly and painfully.

Ratchet's aim shifted from Bombshell to Mirage. His red digit stiffened on the trigger. He didn't want Bombshell to do it, but a gorge in his throat piping came up, something that hasn't happened in a long time, at the feeling of killing a mech he had known as one of his own for a very very long time.

"After I blast you to pieces! You served your purpose!" Bombshell said nastily. Ratchet's core rattled, it never rattled easily, but he felt fear rock his center, so his aim had quickly shifted back from Mirage to Bombshell and when he fired, he missed. His haste to correct his aim had caused a misfire, but all the same. Ratchet did not regret so much missing the slag Insecticon as much as he was relieved that he hadn't killed Mirage or allowed Bombshell to do it first.

Ratchet vaulted over the side of the cliff and slid down to the base on his white pedes, hoping no one else, Decepticon or objective Autobot came this way so he could look at Mirage himself to prove his hunch was right. He lowered himself down on one knee strut to examine the still mech. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him on the outside but Bombshell's inventive bypasses didn't always mean you carried it openly. Ratchet put his servo on the chest armor, Mirage was still warm. He was still functioning; he could feel the electric current and energon flowing through him perfectly. However there was a fluctuation in the energy level, like air bubbles in tube of water.

"I can't believe any Autobot would turn against his own kind willingly…' Ratchet said, moving his hand quickly over Mirage, knowing he wasn't doing as thorough a job as he would be doing in his medical area, but in the grip of battle, he had no choice. There was a strange influence as he got higher up on Mirage's chest. Ratchet's red digits dipped into the space between Mirage's chin guard and his neck, feeling for anything that didn't belong there. Ratchet was running out of time and body to search. He could, if in this moment not find anything, just override Mirage's central processor, force him into stasis so he could get him back to headquarters and do a more meticulous search… but that would land the Noble in the Autobot's clutches too. Ratchet wasn't a violent mech unless really pushed and didn't like those who just instinctively resorted to the hostility that started this war to begin with. What if Cliffjumper or someone else does something stupid? What if they rabble-rouse of a group of Autobot's who believe Mirage is a traitor into hurting the Noble before Ratchet can prove or debunk the theory of him going wayward? Ratchet's digits flew over every crease with as much speed as he could but not too fast or he would miss something even if it was superficial. Red digits came up over Mirage's face, feeling in where the crease of his helmet met with the side of his cheek plating. As Ratchet moved upward toward the brow ridge, that strange energy he felt before spiked. He placed the flat part of his servo on the crown of Mirage's head and felt that same jolt at its source. He picked up Mirage's head gently and looked at the score of metal deep in the frontal carriage of his helmet.

"What's this?" Ratchet asked to himself as he leaned over and pulled a small disc clamp out of a groove in Mirage's head. He pulled it up and looked at it at the same time he registered heavy pede falls behind him. He hoped at that moment that it was an Autobot; he could at least stop them from injuring Mirage more. If it was a Decepticon, he would have to defend Mirage. He sat up straighter and before he could even turn around, he heard Optimus Prime say behind him.

"No wonder Mirage set us up!" The tall red white and blue truck former, leader of the Autobot's stood overlooking Ratchet and Mirage, his blue optics looking down on them in shock and not a little relief. Ratchet turned halfway to look up at his leader.

"Right, Prime… this was controlling him.' Ratchet showed the small central processor control device in his servo before he crushed it and looked back down at Mirage, who looked like he was trying to come out of his stupor. "One of Bombshell's cerebro-shells."

Cliffjumper, who happened to be covering them at that moment, looked over his shoulder strut with an unfamiliar pang of shame in his core.

"So…Mirage isn't a traitor." He felt like slag. He felt so awful at how he treated Mirage… what he had planned to do to him. Cliffjumper turned back to the cover and swallowed, holding the blaster harder in his grip as if it would justify what he had done. But the truth was… he planned on going into the medical area and interrogating Mirage. He had the chains ready… he had everything planned out. He was standing in the mouth of the Ark and the next he knew… he was on his aft leaning against the rocks, only a few feet from where he stood just moments before. Only… the chains were broken and the energon infusion wore off. He would have to have been sitting there for a while for that to happen, which is conceivable. But how did he end up there… and why was the chain broken…? Other more explicit questions were starting to form in his head but now wasn't the time to think about it.

Mirage didn't know what happened or what he had been doing. All he knew was he had ended up on his back somehow. The last thing he knew was he was trying to trick the Insecticon's into turning against Megatron after some pretty hurtful things said by Cliffjumper… not to mention what he had done to him in the medical area when Ratchet and Wheeljack weren't there. Mirage, even if he had wanted too, wouldn't or couldn't hold it against Cliffjumper, the mini-bot wouldn't remember in any case; Mirage erased the memory. He left Cliffjumper at the mouth of the Ark and assumed his position in the Medical area. He wouldn't or couldn't run now… and running would imply being a traitor. If he stayed, perhaps they will see he meant no harm… they should know that already, he had been with them since the beginning of this fragging war. Its not wrong to not want to fight, to not want to kill others. Mirage just wanted everything to be like it was. But that won't happen if the Decepticon's win. So his natural instinct was toward the Aurtobot's. Perhaps it was this thought that drove him to make up the plan to get the Decepticon's and Insecticon's to turn on one another. Let the slags finish each other off.

He was awake when Ratchet led Cliffjumper into the medical area and Mirage felt himself tense at the proximity of Cliffjumper to himself. Of course, a lot of things were said in the way his body tensed. He looked toward the CMO and the mini-bot and could see how displeased Cliffjumper was. He heard the things Ratchet was saying in the next room, and Cliffjumper's retorts to it. Perhaps it was this incident instead that made Mirage raise from his berth after Cliffjumper and Ratchet left the medical area, to redeem himself? To prove his worth as an Autobot? He shouldn't have too… not after all this time. Perhaps, and Mirage was slightly sickened by thinking it… they will finally get it out of their cranial conduit's that he's a traitor and finally understand his loyalty to the faction if he completely risked life and limb, nearly get himself killed to make it right.

That's what made him go back to that area… take the two measly energon cubes Megatron offered up to the Decepticon's as a reward and set it up to look like Megatron took them back. As the human's would call it 'Indian giver' like. It worked but somehow he was caught in the crossfire when the Insecticon's came back for their stolen reward even after complaining about how stingy Megatron was. He was hit by Shrapnel and he black out after that. When his optics came online he uttered a soft and painful '_Ooooh_…' like he had over energized on some pretty good high-grade. But instead of seeing his berth chamber ceiling lights, he was looking into Ratchet's face; the sky behind his chevroned head was bright blue with the intermediate flash of blaster fire in the back ground.

Ratchet was holding a small device in his digits, looking at it closely as Mirage came out of the depths of his submission trance. Blacking in and out, in one flash of his optics, it was Just Ratchet… then… Prime was standing there… they were saying something about a cerebro-shell. He abruptly came out of his trance and struggled to sit up, only to find Ratchet's arm keeping him down. No… he had to explain. He had to tell them, even if they still didn't believe him.

"I… I never wanted to do anything against my fellow Autobot's… it-it was because-'Mirage stammered. He wasn't looking at Ratchet, he was trying to look at Optimus, but found his optics beseeching Cliffjumper's back. He was the one who really needed to understand. He never got from any of the others that they suspected him of treachery. Ratchet put a comforting servo on Mirage's shoulder strut.

"We know… all of us." Ratchet said pointedly as he looked back over his own shoulder strut at the mini-bot who turned his faceplates away with mounting ignominy.

"It's over, Mirage.' Optimus said, following up Ratchet's statement. He knew the CMO had gestured the reply more to Cliffjumper than to Mirage and Optimus did as well as he turned back to the battle. "Forget it… Get him back on his feet, Ratchet. We need all the help we can get."

*/*/*

That was the end of the debate as far as anyone else was concerned and perhaps Cliffjumper thought that way as well. He was mistaken about Mirage's loyalty to the Autobot's. They rolled home from where the destruction left Megatron in a pile of burning rubble as he opted to destroy the electro cells rather than let them be taken away.

Cliffjumper was on one side of the large gray trailor that completed Optimus Prime's vehicular mode. Mirage was on the other side of Prime so Cliffjumper couldn't see him. Perhaps Ratchet and Prime had made it be this way. Ratchet drove on the same side he did, but behind him. And to his right was the guard rail. The only way to get around and near enough to Mirage to try begging forgiveness from the Noble, and Cliffjumper wasn't sure Mirage would be willing to forgive him and not at all surprised if he didn't, was to drive around Optimus from the front and he didn't dare a move like that. Optimus was already frustrated with him enough because of his behavior before this. Cliffjumper felt a stab of defiant conviction. He wouldn't have done it if he wasn't so sure… He'd… he'd never just pick a fight. It was common knowledge that a lot of the other Autobot's felt the same way about Mirage. Ironhide…Brawn… Gears to name a few. His name was in that list too, but not anymore.

Cliffjumper was so positive he was right he was willing to hack Mirage to prove it. He could only hope that he didn't do that. There is that gray area of 27 missing minutes where anything could have happened and he really hadn't come face to face with Mirage long enough by himself to inquire or bring it up. Certainly not in front of Ratchet and Prime. And by that time Mirage had already proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he was a traitor… in that window of time, Cliffjumper didn't care about the missing time from his memory. If Mirage deleted it or not, he didn't care because all it proved essentially was that Cliffjumper was right about him and Mirage was nothing but a coward and a lying glitch!

But with spark stopping ruthlessness… Cliffjumper's certainty came crashing down on him during the battle when the entire picture was made clear to him. And in flooded the guilt and shame… and once again, the curiosity about the memory no longer in his head. In addition to feeling guilty for everything he'd accused Mirage of, for the punch in the face plates to name a few, he would have to live with the guilt of having defiled him too. Cliffjumper would never know how he would feel about that, it was a scary prospect. He must have planned to do it, files of his systems being upgraded to understand what and how to interrogate and the problems that could potentially happen should a new officer do it wrong. But he hoped he hadn't really done it so it was just free floating information. Unless presented a reason to use it, he'd have no reason to need it. However…

Something kept the idea in his head that there was something amiss. Cliffjumper didn't know why, but even after the moment he decided to find Mirage, knowing intuitively to look where the Decepticon's had been, he felt something was wrong. Not with Mirage… well yeah, at the time he really did think there was something wrong with him, meaning he thought he was a _slagbag_ traitor, but it was more himself. Something was off in addition to the missing memory.

In the wash rack, Cliffjumper was horrified to have picked white paint and what may have been a speck or two of blue paint out of one of the creases in his inner thigh. The glinting white paint shined on his digit tip as he held it up to his optics. White paint was white paint; it could have come from anywhere. But he had this nagging suspicion that something happened that he couldn't remember and it happened in that elusive 27 minutes. He started to fear his own lost memory, not sure now he wanted to know what happened to it or what he may have done. Knowing that if he looked at Mirage now… knowing he is innocent… he would have a sick feeling in his intake tanks, especially if Mirage was the one who erased the memory to spare him the dishonor of knowing what he had done to someone guiltless. After waking up leaning against the rocks with a defused and broken chain, Cliffjumper felt light headed so he went to see Ratchet. Ratchet wasn't in his med area; he was in the rec-room. It was that moment that Cliffjumper felt was the real start of realization for him, even though a lot of his actions even after that did not reflect this, so certain there was another not to obvious explanation for his memory loss…

*/*/*

**A little more than 24 hours earlier**

"_What seems to be the trouble?" Ratchet asked as Cliffjumper walked up to him with a 'lost' look on his faceplates. He sat down next to the CMO and took the offered energon cube._

"_I don't know. I must have blacked out… I came too leaning against the rocks outside the Ark entrance. I feel really tired, like I haven't recharged in orns. I feel like my systems are taxed when before I passed out, I was fine." Cliffjumper looked down at the energon in the cube and didn't feel like drinking it. It was unusual, but he felt strange. Ratchet looked down at him critically._

"_Well I don't usually do checkups in the rec-room, Cliffjumper. Its unprofessional and frankly not private enough. There are many optics in here that can see you should something be wrong…' Ratchet said. "That and if you don't care and wish me to check you here, then it wouldn't be as thorough as it would be in my medical area." _

"_I don't want to go in there." Cliffjumper said grumpily, not wanting to be anywhere near Mirage at that moment when he didn't feel he could defend himself. Ratchet's optics flashed with irritation._

"_Okay… here then and hope I don't have something embarrassing to tell you… or one of them." Ratchet jutted his thumb back at the Twins sitting in the corner with Bluestreak and Brawn. They were watching with intense curiosity. Cliffjumper felt his faceplates flush with humiliation. He liked to think everyone thought of him as the type to avoid being seen in Ratchet's care. Not because he didn't trust or like Ratchet… it was because he liked to think himself tough as nails, one who didn't need the Doc… but they were smiling at him from over Ratchet's back and suddenly he was faced with 'either the medical area with Mirage' or 'in here and be embarrassed because everyone is watching him'…_

"_You don't have to go near Mirage. If there is nothing wrong with you, it will be a simple in and out procedure.' Sunstreaker laughed at the way Ratchet said it, Cliffjumper didn't miss it, neither did Ratchet, who brought the mini-bot's optics to his own, irritated by the others shenanigans."Don't listen to them."_

"_Okay… the medical area." Cliffjumper said huffily and got up and stumbled a little and straightened out pointedly as Ratchet's larger servo came to break the fall when the others chuckled at him. He snorted and pushed Ratchet's servo away from his side, even though he knew the CMO was only trying to steady him. If he was going to fall over… then he would rather face plant with dignity rather than be caught like some youngling learning how to walk. Ratchet said nothing to him for pushing his servo away. He knew Cliffjumper was too proud to be seen like this so it didn't bother him. He looked back over his shoulder strut at the others with a piercing glare though and they all stopped chuckling. _

_Cliffjumper walked out of the Ark, barely aware of where he was going or how his body managed to carry him there because he wasn't aware he had. He just walked and wasn't even aware that Ratchet was on his heels until the dry heat of the desert night hit his armor. There was a soft light coming from the opening to the medical area and for a moment he thought about just forgetting being checked. He probably conked his head off the rock when he passed out. The only question would be why he had passed out. Easily enough answered. Cliffjumper was so frustrated with the notion he was right about Mirage's treason that he worked himself up into a stasis lock. That was the only thing he could think of. He felt fine before he woke up though. Maybe all that adrenaline numbed any warning signs so he just crashed. Yeah that was it… there was no reason to go to the medical area… no reason to expose himself to Mirage. Cliffjumper paused but was pushed forward by the red servo on his back._

"_Oh no you don't. You are my patient now… you aren't self diagnosing around me. I am not letting you out of my sight until I know why you passed out." Ratchet said knowing exactly what Cliffjumper was doing. He was trying to work out a way to get away from him. Or more a way to get away from Mirage. Ratchet had no reason to suspect that Mirage was a traitor, nor would he let anything happen to him while he was in his care. Same thing goes for Cliffjumper. The mini-bot just needed to trust him, so he marched the little one into his medical area with a thumb and for-digit wrapped around the conical devil horn, which to his amusement greatly irritated Cliffjumper, and did not release him until he had been marched passed Mirage, who was laying on the berth where Ratchet left him, and into an adjacent room._

"_Now… get up on the berth and let's take a look at you. I don't feel I need to remind you it's been quite some time since you have had an actual check up, you never keep your scheduled ones, and you wonder why you are passing out."Ratchet said sternly. Cliffjumper did as he was told and hopped onto the berth with his legs dangling over the side. He faced the CMO with an irritable twist of his faceplates. Ratchet decided the look on his face was more to do with the fact he had been forced to the medical area rather than having to pass within close proximity to a mech he has it out for._

"_I'm fine!" Cliffjumper said stupidly and this time Ratchet's neutral face slipped into agitation._

"_I'll decide that, Cliffjumper!' He said sharply and walked up to him, placing his servo's on the mini-bot's chest. "Remember, you came looking for me. Now cooperate or I will put you in stasis to check you out. And when I get a mech on stasis… EVERYTHING gets checked… so do you want to do this the hard way, Cliffjumper… or the easy way? It's completely up to you. I personally enjoy doing it the hard way, it's more precise." _

_Just for a moment, Cliffjumper looked up at Ratchet and really did look like a sparkling being scolded by a parent. Something about the way Ratchet said 'everything gets checked' made Cliffjumper swallow nervously and he was forced to nod in compliance and let Ratchet do what he had to do to make sure there was no problems. He didn't generally like being touched. Unfortunately, Ratchet does his initial checkup with his servo's, so the larger red digits ran over his body and paused in places, feeling for things. Cliffjumper wasn't medically incline so he didn't exactly know what Ratchet was looking for. _

_It took a few clicks for Ratchet's hands to cease feeling every bit of Cliffjumper he could touch. He pulled away with a sigh._

"_Well you have a bit of an elevated energon pressure which could be due to stress from having passed out and your thing against Mirage." Ratchet said as he turned toward a table next to him and lifted a rod, long and thin into his servo. Cliffjumper knew what that did and he didn't like it one bit. However, the mind probe device became secondary to what Ratchet said last. Cliffjumper lifted his gaze stubbornly._

"_My… thing… against Mirage? It should be yours too! He's a traitor!" _

"_There is no proof of that! And you shouldn't be working your systems up over something you aren't without a doubt positive of! It isn't worth crashing and burning over." Ratchet said as he came up in front of the mini-bot with the device in his servo. _

"_You'll think it's worth it when I prove he is a strut stabbing slag! I'll get that proof! And when I do, you and everyone else will be apologizing to and thanking me for saving your afts!" Cliffjumper said furiously. Ratchet nodded his head in a placating manner as if not really listening to him or choosing not to because he knew it was rubbish. _

"_Yeah but until that improbable scenario happens, you are my patient… so shut your vocalizer or I will shut off your synthesizer. Got that?" Ratchet said crossly, turning on the device and angling it to the side of Cliffjumper's head. Cliffjumper grimaced, a definite spike of anger shot up his core at the CMO. _

"_Improbable?!"He started to resist but Ratchet didn't let him, being far too used to both sides of the spectrum… those patients who wanted more than what they needed… like Gears. And then the one's who wouldn't let Ratchet come near them with a 'band aide' for Primus Sake, like Ironhide. Cliffjumper was no different and Ratchet was far too used to dealing with this sort of thing._

"_That's enough!" He said and slid the thin rod like device into the cranial output conduit hidden just below the horn on Cliffjumper's head. The mini-bot jolted as the rod slid into place. It was a very weird feeling, but not something he had never experienced before. Experienced or not… he still didn't like it. He waited, more because he had no choice too; the device temporarily halted motor control so the one with the device could check their central processor without so much jostling around. _

_It took Ratchet a few breems to completely check Cliffjumper from head to pede. He was silent for the most part, his sensors recording important data that he can share with Cliffjumper before he pulled the device out of its slot. For what seemed like orns, Cliffjumper just sat there, still and quiet, which Ratchet had no problems with, but he had no illusion that speech and mobility will return once the device was removed. And sure enough, when Ratchet finished his scan, he pulled it out and Cliffjumper slouched back and looked at him sourly._

"_You could have warned me!" _

"_You had enough warning when I put the probe to your cranial port." He said as he placed the probe down in its allotted space. He turned back to Cliffjumper, who still looked sour but opted to not retort, knowing he had irritated the CMO. _

"_Well… physically you are okay. You're recharge cycle seems fine. You're not underengergized. A couple strange anomalies appeared in your axial housing. Have you been sexually with another mech recently?" Ratchet asked. He didn't find the question very odd or something that would cause quite the reaction that Cliffjumper gave. The mini-bot's face slid into a comical 'O' shape as soon as he asked, his red horned head turned away stiffly and his legs clamped shut._

"_What the frag kind of question is THAT?" Cliffjumper barked, he was going to jump down off the table and walk out. There was no need of such personal questions and what the frag would Ratchet need to know that for? Again, Ratchet halted his retreat by placing his servo on Cliffjumper's chest._

"_It is an IMPORTANT question. If you are having a relationship, Cliffjumper-'Ratchet was explaining but Cliffjumper barked again_

"_I'm NOT!" _

"…_then we need to check you for any injuries revolving your valve or chord. Usually the anomalies you are exhibiting in your processor happen to those who have undergone some sort of bonding process.' Ratchet continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. He felt Cliffjumper's body flush with embarrassment._

"_I haven't… I have never bonded. I would remember something like that." Cliffjumper said in a humiliated whisper._

"_Actually… not necessarily. You or your partner could have corrupted the data… or it was erased, which brings me to mention the more important finding I came across while scanning your memory track." Ratchet said delicately. Cliffjumper looked up at him slowly and almost… childishly worried. He didn't need to inquire Ratchet to continue._

"_There seems to be a window of 27 minutes of recollection missing from your memory storage. It could have been knocked out when you passed out, in which I would still see the memory as a snowy film, but over time with some codecs filed into your processor, it would open the memory. I am sorry to say… but that memory is gone. It's a blank stretch of time where there is nothing. Not even a codec can retrieve the memory." Ratchet said seriously. Cliffjumper hadn't expected that at all. He looked very young when he looked down at the floor more to process the information that for anything else. He looked back up at the CMO._

"…_What would cause me to lose my memory like that?"_

"_Like I said. It wasn't because you passed out. There would have been tell tale signs of concussion like injuries that would knock the memory out like that. For instance, you lack any sign of physical damage to your cranial armor. That rules out damage memory loss-"Cliffjumper again cut Ratchet off._

"_Well what else could have done it? And what was the point in bringing up the… bonding thing?"_

"_In addition to the missing memory time, the freshest files are the ones for bonding… interrogation… you weren't planning on interrogating anyone with the uplink or valve method were you? You either uploaded that information for relational reasons or something less savory, in which Optimus expressly forbid you to embark on." Ratchet asked suspiciously. "Because beside the freshest file being that… those files don't occur ANYWHERE else in your memory; which means they were a recent acquisition. If you gained those files for an impending relationship, then fine. But they also show interrogative methods and how too and how not to. I hope you weren't being reckless, Cliffjumper." _

_Ratchet didn't suppose that Cliffjumper had done anything to Mirage… at least not yet. Mirage would be the only one Ratchet would suspect him to attack in such a vile manner. At best, his guess was that Cliffjumper likely meant to do something like trying to interrogate the Noble. Maybe the notion of what he meant to do made him pass out. Ratchet can only hope that Cliffjumper's reserve wasn't as tough as he tried to make it seem. _

"_I can't tell you, Ratch… The memory isn't there. I don't know where it went and I am not stupid enough to do anything with that deceiving glitch in there! I have already been punished by Prime for even insinuating Mirage is a liar and a cheat." Cliffjumper said grumpily. This didn't change anything. He still thinks Mirage is a liar and a conspirator. So what if he had missing time in his memory. It didn't change anything. _

"_I hope that's true, Cliffjumper. It isn't easy to just lose your memories like that. If Prime finds out you were going do what I think you were going to do when you downloaded those files, you could be in a heap of trouble." _

_Hearing this come from Ratchet brought home something to Cliffjumper. What if something actually did happen? That window of 27 minutes missing from his memory could have been him interrogating Mirage. Maybe he found something out about Mirage and the slag erased it from his memory to protect himself! That was the only explanation. _

"_I don't wish to make this any more uncomfortable for you, Cliffjumper… but I can tell you if you have engaged in… sexual… or otherwise inappropriate activities."Ratchet said in a roundabout way. He knew Cliffjumper would not like it. Most of the mechs don't. Only some seem to derive some sick pleasure with it, but Ratchet was indifferent about it. It was a part of Ratchet's training and it didn't bother him to look at or examine other's body parts no matter who it was. Cliffjumper drew up a little and sneered at him. _

"_What?!" He thought he knew what Ratchet was suggesting._

"_I can tell if you have engaged in activities we seem to both think caused your memory loss if I check your chord and valve piece." Ratchet loved watching mech's react to that. He couldn't understand why they acted as if he propositioned them. It wasn't like he said 'I want finger you and wank you off to see if you work' he's just doing his job! And his job, unfortunately to them, includes their sexual parts too. Cliffjumper did as most of them do; he clamped his legs shut with his servo's covering his cod piece with a mortified expression. _

"_That… no! I don't want you putting your clamps on me!" _

"_I thought not. Well, sorry, but I don't suppose I will ever really find out why you lost that memory. Unless someone says "Hey I erased your memory" the only way I can get even a heading is to examine your ports." Ratchet shrugged. "But since that is not an option… you will just have to live with 27 minutes being missing from your head for the rest of your cycle."Ratchet said and backed away from him. _

_Cliffjumper looked at him. No way… he wasn't… he wasn't going to find out by Ratchet telling him. If he did what Ratchet and part of himself even, feels he did… then he wanted to be the one to discover it. If Ratchet finds out he would likely go to Prime with evidence that could land him in A LOT of trouble. If Cliffjumper finds it out on his own… then he can try to mend it. If he can't, he will turn himself in. Besides, the only one who would drive him to something like that is Mirage. The very sound of his designation in Cliffjumper's processor made his energon boil. He won't be able to keep up the facade for long; he will eventually have to come out. And when he does… when the truth finally comes full circle… Cliffjumper hoped he would be there to see Mirage fall._


End file.
